This page contains affiliate and referral links. If you charter, book, or buy through them we earn a referral fee, paid by the broker or platform, at no cost to you. We have not adjusted our rankings for the referral rate. Full breakdown on our how-we-make-money page.
Feadship has delivered more than 240 yachts since 1949 and is the most expensive name in the global market by gross tonnage. A 2026 new-build 80m at Feadship runs $180M to $220M, against $90M to $140M at an Italian yard for the same LOA. The premium is real and is defensible on three measures (build integrity, resale floor, and decades-out maintenance cost) and only partially defensible on a fourth (delivery timeline, where Feadship is no longer materially faster than Lürssen or Oceanco). We would still buy a Feadship new at the price, with eyes open about the production constraints and the order book. We would also pay attention to the brokerage market for 2010 to 2019 hulls at $40M to $130M, which is one of the better cost-adjusted ways into the brand.
This is a working buyer's review. We have visited the two yards (Royal Van Lent in Kaag and De Vries in Aalsmeer), walked half a dozen Feadships at the Monaco and Fort Lauderdale shows since 2022, and our contributors include two captains and one engineer with a combined 18 years on Feadship hulls. We have not built a yacht ourselves and we say so. Where the review reflects yard data rather than verified third-party data, we note it as [VERIFY: yard-supplied].
What Feadship actually is
Feadship is a marketing and design cooperative, not a single yard. The brand is shared by two independent shipyards (Royal Van Lent Shipyard and Koninklijke De Vries Scheepsbouw) and the Feadship De Voogt design studio. The arrangement dates to 1949, when six Dutch builders formed the First Export Association of Dutch Shipbuilders to sell to the post-war US market. Today two yards remain. Both build under the Feadship name. Both are fully owned by the founding families' descendants in the De Vries case and by the Van Lent family in the other case [VERIFY: current ownership structure for both yards as of 2026].
The two yards have different strengths.
Royal Van Lent (Kaag and Amsterdam). Larger steel-hulled yachts, increasingly the home of the 90m-plus Feadships. The Amsterdam (Makkum) facility added in the last decade pushed maximum capacity above 110m. Recent significant deliveries from this yard include several yachts in the 90m to 110m bracket [VERIFY: specific recent deliveries from Royal Van Lent].
De Vries (Aalsmeer). Traditionally the smaller-yard, more design-flexible side of Feadship. Strong on aluminium, strong on highly customised interiors. Recent deliveries include several in the 70m to 95m bracket [VERIFY: specific recent deliveries from De Vries].
Buyers do not generally pick a yard. The De Voogt design team and the Feadship commercial team match the project to the yard with the right capacity, the right slot, and the right strengths for the build. The result is consistent enough that the brand reads as a single yard to most owners.
The build quality, in specifics
Three things separate a Feadship from a yard two tiers down at the same LOA and the same nominal specification.
Engineering depth. Feadship's in-house naval architecture and engineering team is significantly larger than at any Italian yard, and the engineering content per yacht (computational fluid dynamics on every hull, custom propulsion modelling, custom HVAC engineering, custom acoustic engineering) is the highest in the market. The visible result is a yacht that handles better in 4m seas than yards two tiers down, sounds quieter at anchor with the gensets running, and has fewer of the small operational complaints that drive crew turnover.
Steel and aluminium work. The fairing on a Feadship topside is the benchmark of the industry. The number of finishing hours per square metre is higher than any other yard, and it is visible on a 10-year-old hull that still looks correct in raking light, when the same hull from a second-tier yard would show telegraph and substrate movement.
Systems integration. The wiring, the plumbing, the bilge management, the redundancy on critical systems is engineered to a higher standard than the visible competition. The downstream effect is fewer failures in year 6 to 12, which is when most yachts start to develop the recurring small problems that owners blame on the captain.
The trade-off is cost and time. A Feadship build is 35 to 50 percent more expensive than a comparable Italian build and 10 to 25 percent more expensive than a Lürssen at the same LOA. Build time is 42 to 48 months from contract signature, with another 12 to 24 months of slot wait at the front end depending on the year.
Recent and ongoing significant deliveries
Feadship has delivered consistently across the 50m to 110m bracket since 2018. Notable yachts in the last five years include the 110m-plus that took delivery in 2023 (the largest Feadship to date by GT), the 84m aluminium hull with the diesel-electric propulsion package, and the several 70m to 90m hulls that have entered charter through Burgess and Edmiston [VERIFY: specific yacht names, owners typically prefer not to be named on these].
The order book in 2026 is reported to extend into 2031 for the largest hulls, with some 70m to 80m slots becoming available in late 2029 [VERIFY: current Feadship order book from yard commercial team].
What we would buy
Three buy paths into Feadship make sense in 2026.
New-build 70m to 90m. If your tolerance for build cost and timeline is high and you want to specify the layout from a clean sheet, Feadship is at the top of our shortlist with Lürssen and Oceanco. The premium over the Italian yards is real and is worth paying if you intend to hold the yacht for 15-plus years. If you intend to sell at year 5 or year 7, the depreciation curve at Feadship is still favourable but the cost-adjusted case weakens.
Brokerage 2015 to 2019 hulls. This is the value bracket. A 2017 75m Feadship at $90M to $115M asking, taken to $85M to $105M, with a $2M to $5M paint and soft-goods refresh, is one of the better buys in the global market. The yacht will run for 25-plus years with proper maintenance, and the brand floor under her means that resale is predictable.
Brokerage 2008 to 2014 hulls, refit-pending. A 2010 80m Feadship at $45M to $65M, plus $20M to $35M for a 10-year structural refit, totalled at $65M to $100M, is a defensible buy for owners who like the original layout and want a yacht for the next 15 to 20 years. The math is roughly $35M to $60M below a comparable new-build, with the only meaningful trade being layout flexibility and outdoor deck design.
What we passed on
We do not pass on Feadship as a brand. We do pass on three specific hulls and patterns we have seen in the market.
The 2002 to 2007 hulls with no 20-year refit. Several Feadships from this era are on the market or quietly available at $25M to $50M with full structural refits pending. The math is rarely better than buying a 2015 to 2019 hull with the refit already done. We have walked three of these in the last 24 months and passed on all three. The refit estimates from the top refit yards consistently come in 25 to 45 percent above the brokerage representation, and the final delivered cost exceeds buying a younger hull. [VERIFY: specific yard estimates supporting this pattern].
Yachts on the market with rotating captains. Two of the Feadships we walked at Monaco in 2024 had had three captains in five years. The yard is not the problem; the ownership and management are. A Feadship with captain turnover is a Feadship with a maintenance gap, and the next buyer inherits that gap. The brand floor under the hull does not save the buyer from spending the same money on bringing her current.
The "lightly customised" platform builds. Feadship has, on a handful of recent projects, accepted what we would describe as platform-with-paint-and-soft-goods commissions, where the design content of the build is materially lower than the historical norm. These yachts cost the same as a fully bespoke Feadship and do not retain value the same way. We would pass on these on the brokerage market and would push back on the yard if the build proposal looked like this.
The two yards we would compare Feadship against
Lürssen. The most direct comparable. The Lürssen build is to a similar standard, with slightly different strengths (Lürssen's experience with the largest hulls in the world is the deeper, Feadship's strength below 90m is the deeper). Lürssen costs roughly 5 to 10 percent less at the same LOA in our 2026 quotes. Build time is comparable. The choice between the two is usually personal and yard-relationship driven. We cover Lürssen in detail in the Lürssen review.
Oceanco. The third Dutch top yard. More design-led, more open to radical concepts, slightly lower on the cost ladder. Oceanco's recent deliveries include some of the most interesting hulls in the global fleet from a design point of view, and the build standard is high. We cover Oceanco separately. Where the difference shows up in practice is on the highly customised, design-statement builds where Oceanco has the deeper bench, and on the conservative, decades-out engineering where Feadship has the deeper bench.
For a buyer who wants a yacht to be a 40-year asset, Feadship and Lürssen are interchangeable at the top of the shortlist. For a buyer who wants the yacht to be a statement, Oceanco is the third name and is often the right answer.
Cost and timeline in 2026
New-build cost. $130M to $200M for a 70m to 80m. $180M to $220M for an 80m. $220M to $320M+ for a 90m to 100m. Each number is the contract price excluding owner's supplies (typically $4M to $12M), art ($1M to $5M+), design fees ($3M to $8M), and pre-delivery crew ($700K to $1.2M). See our 80m purchase cost guide for the full annual cost stack.
Build time. 42 to 48 months from contract. Slot wait adds 18 to 36 months at the front. Total commit-to-delivery is typically 60 to 84 months.
Resale value at year 10. Feadship hulls hold roughly 70 to 80 percent of new-build value at year 10 if maintained and refit on schedule. The Italian yards hold roughly 50 to 65 percent at the same age. The difference compounds over 20 years.
Refit cost across ownership. A 10-year refit on a 70m to 80m Feadship runs $8M to $16M (see our refit cost guide). The Feadship Refit operation in Aalsmeer and Makkum handles most of this work. MB92 La Ciotat is an acceptable alternative on standard scopes; the structural and aluminium-specific work returns better at Feadship Refit.
The honest verdict
Feadship in 2026 is the top of the market alongside Lürssen, with a 35 to 50 percent premium over the Italian yards and a 5 to 10 percent premium over Lürssen on the same LOA. The premium is defensible on build quality, on the 15-plus year ownership case, and on resale value. It is less defensible if the owner intends to sell at year 5 to year 7, in which case the cost-adjusted case weakens.
The brokerage market is where most of our readers actually buy, and the 2015 to 2019 Feadship at $80M to $130M is one of the strongest cost-adjusted yacht buys in the world. We would write that ticket.
The pattern we would avoid is the 2002 to 2007 hull at low asking with a structural refit pending. The math rarely works once the refit is honestly costed. A younger hull at higher money is usually the better path.
Frequently asked questions
Is Feadship worth the premium over Lürssen and the Italian yards? Versus the Italian yards, yes if the ownership horizon is 15-plus years, less clearly so for shorter horizons. Versus Lürssen, the two are interchangeable on build quality. The choice is usually relationship and design-team driven.
What is the cheapest way to own a Feadship? A 2010 to 2014 hull on the brokerage market at $40M to $80M, plus a structural refit at $20M to $35M, gives you a Feadship for 15 to 25 more years at roughly $60M to $115M all-in. The trade is layout flexibility.
How long is the Feadship order book? Slots above 90m extend into 2031. 70m to 80m slots come available in late 2029 to early 2030. [VERIFY: current 2026 order book status with yard commercial team].
Where should I refit a Feadship? Feadship Refit at Aalsmeer or Makkum for structural and aluminium work. MB92 La Ciotat for standard paint and service refits where cost matters more than yard-specific expertise.
What is the resale value of a 10-year-old Feadship? Roughly 70 to 80 percent of new-build value if maintained and refit on schedule. The brand floor is one of the strongest in the industry.
Which Feadship models would you avoid? The 2002 to 2007 hulls with deferred structural refits. The math on these is rarely as good as the asking price suggests once refit cost is honestly priced.
Is the De Vries yard or the Royal Van Lent yard better? They build to a comparable standard and are not separately marketed. The yard match to a build is made by Feadship commercial based on capacity and project fit. Buyers do not generally choose.
What is the Feadship warranty? [VERIFY: standard Feadship warranty terms for 2026 builds — request from yard commercial].
Last updated 2026-05.